Aussie 7s - a new journey.

[observer]

Round 2 of the World Series kicks off today in George South Africa. Australia is fielding the same team that competed last weekend in Dubai (see below). They are favourably drawn in pool A alongside Wales, Scotland and France. They should win those matches and face either Samoa or Fiji in a quarter final on day 2. Fiji are fielding the same team but Samoa have lost Lolo Lui and seasoned playmaker Reupena Levasa to injury in Dubai last weekend.

All information on the tournament is here http://www.irbsevens.com/destination/edition=2/index.html

Hamish Angus 1
Trent Dyer 2
Bernard Foley 3
Shaun Foley 4
John Grant 5
Michael Hodge 6
Nick Phipps 7
Gregory Jeloudev 8
Ed Jenkins 9
Tevita Kuridrani 10
Jonathon Lance 11
Daniel Yakapo 12

 

[wamberal]

Should make the semis. They did pretty well against England last weekend, considering their lack of experience, in Sevens, and as a team.

 

[PaarlBok]

Wales just beat Aus 33-15 in George in the opening match

Run of Play
15 Hamish Angus Missed Conversion
14 Trent Dyer Try
13 Gareth Davies Missed Conversion
12 Aaron Shingler Try
10 Gareth Davies Conversion
10 Rhodri Gomer Davies Try
9 Gareth Davies Conversion
9 Ifan Evans Try
7 Hamish Angus Missed Conversion
6 Ed Jenkins Try
6 Hamish Angus Missed Conversion
5 Ed Jenkins Try
5 Gareth Davies Conversion
4 Rhys Shellard Try
2 Gareth Davies Conversion
1 Richard Pugh Try

 

[PaarlBok]

Those of you want to follow the action live,
http://www.sarugby.net/

Click on the live ticker next to the game.

 

[observer]

I've got a feeling Nick Phipps might be carrying an injury. He didn't get on the field against Sth Africa in the plate final last weekend and tonight he did not start against Wales.

 

[observer]

Aussies are through to a qf against Fiji today after winning their other two pool matches 21-7 against Scotland and 28-0 against France. What's surprising so far is big John Grant not scoring a try yet after bagging 9 last week in Dubai. However I see that he and Nick Phipps are not even starting so they may be injured.

If we beat Fiji we will likely face NZ in a semi and if we lose we will likey face Argentina in a plate semi.

Cup quarter finals:

Wales v Samoa
South Africa v England
New Zealand v Argentina
Fiji v Australia

 

[observer]

Fox Sports 3 are showing Day 2 live from 10.05 pm tonight (AEDT) right through to 5.30 am.

Previously we were told Fox Sports 2 would broadcast highlights from the final day in George on Sunday from 6.30pm (AEDT).

I was just surfing the fox tv program when I discovered it!

 

[canowindra]

I have heard that John Grant has injured his ankle, but I don't know any details

 

[#1?]

44 19:30 ENGLAND 19 - 22 NEW ZEALAND Final Cup
43 19:05 SOUTH AFRICA 10 - 5 ARGENTINA Final Plate
42 18:40 SCOTLAND 26 - 0 RUSSIA Final Bowl
41 18:15 KENYA 5 - 14 ZIMBABWE Final Shield
40 17:43 NEW ZEALAND 26 - 19 FIJI SF Cup
39 17:21 SAMOA 12 - 22 ENGLAND SF Cup
38 16:59 ARGENTINA 14 - 12 AUSTRALIA SF Plate
37 16:37 WALES 21 - 22 SOUTH AFRICA SF Plate
36 15:55 RUSSIA 34 - 0 FRANCE SF Bowl
35 15:33 SCOTLAND 14 - 10 PORTUGAL SF Bowl
34 15:11 ZIMBABWE 19 - 17 UNITED STATES SF Shield
33 14:49 NAMIBIA 0 - 41 KENYA SF Shield
32 14:12 FIJI 33 - 5 AUSTRALIA 1/4 final Cup
31 13:50 NEW ZEALAND 26 - 0 ARGENTINA 1/4 final Cup
30 13:28 SOUTH AFRICA 10 - 19 ENGLAND 1/4 final Cup
29 13:06 WALES 14 - 19 SAMOA 1/4 final Cup
28 12:44 UNITED STATES 17 - 19 FRANCE 1/4 final Bowl
27 12:22 RUSSIA 25 - 7 ZIMBABWE 1/4 final Bowl
26 12:00 PORTUGAL 7 - 5 KENYA 1/4 final Bowl
25 11:38 SCOTLAND 14 - 5 NAMIBIA 1/4 final Bowl
24 20:38 SOUTH AFRICA 29 - 5 ARGENTINA Pool D
23 20:16 NEW ZEALAND 20 - 7 ENGLAND Pool C
22 19:54 SAMOA 14 - 14 FIJI Pool B
21 19:32 AUSTRALIA 21 - 7 SCOTLAND Pool A
20 18:55 PORTUGAL 26 - 19 ZIMBABWE Pool D
19 18:33 KENYA 5 - 34 RUSSIA Pool C
18 18:11 UNITED STATES 33 - 7 NAMIBIA Pool B
17 17:49 WALES 29 - 12 FRANCE Pool A
16 17:17 ARGENTINA 26 - 0 PORTUGAL Pool D
15 16:55 SOUTH AFRICA 33 - 7 ZIMBABWE Pool D
14 16:33 ENGLAND 21 - 5 KENYA Pool C
13 16:11 NEW ZEALAND 33 - 7 RUSSIA Pool C
12 15:49 FIJI 43 - 5 UNITED STATES Pool B
11 15:27 SAMOA 43 - 0 NAMIBIA Pool B
10 15:05 SCOTLAND 7 - 19 WALES Pool A
9 14:43 AUSTRALIA 28 - 0 FRANCE Pool A
8 14:11 ARGENTINA 24 - 12 ZIMBABWE Pool D
7 13:49 SOUTH AFRICA 38 - 0 PORTUGAL Pool D
6 13:27 ENGLAND 19 - 5 RUSSIA Pool C
5 13:05 NEW ZEALAND 47 - 0 KENYA Pool C
4 12:43 FIJI 47 - 7 NAMIBIA Pool B
3 12:21 SAMOA 24 - 22 UNITED STATES Pool B
2 11:59 SCOTLAND 21 - 12 FRANCE Pool A
1 11:37 AUSTRALIA 15 - 33 WALES Pool A

 

[Lee Grant]

SPOILER

That was a disappointing effort at George.

Our players looked so puny losing against Fiji and it made a difference in making tackles and breaking them. Then in the loss against Argentina they kept counter rucking us off our pill.

Not a great effort, not a lot of quality and not a well balanced side: too many steppers and lacking fliers and missing a couple of mobile backrowers than can get people away from the ball.

 

[observer]

A very ordinary performance all round. And why on earth would they take two injured players to George? Nick Phipps and John Grant didn't play during the tournament which left them 10 players for the whole event. Why weren't they replaced by two fit players? Very ordinary management in my opinion.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Whilst rubbing some Laphroig painkiller in last night, I managed to miss a fair amount of the games on Fox, but woke up to catch the last 2 games.

Saffers look ordinary when Cecil is not playing.

Ben Gollings is an amazing athlete.
Soap Dodger strip is just as awful the second time around.

The Darkness nearly blew it.

What an amazing last 30 seconds of the real game and the last play from 20 seconds left of real time to about 3 minutes of "next time the ball goes dead". Three penallties, about four turnovers, One sendoff, and a PK victory. Both sets of players looked dead on their feet. Great advert for the shortened version of the game.

Pity we weren't there. Dismal and depressing result from the Golden 7's.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (previous rank)
1 ENGLAND 44
2 NEW ZEALAND 40 (previous 3=)
3 SAMOA 36 (2)
4 FIJI 32 (3=)
5 SOUTH AFRICA 24
6 AUSTRALIA 14
7= ARGENTINA 12 (9)
7= WALES 12
9 UNITED STATES 6 (7=)
10 SCOTLAND 4 (0)

Remaining rounds in HSBC World Sevens Series schedule:
(2011)
February 4/5 - Wellington, New Zealand
February 12/13 - Las Vegas, USA
March 26/28 - Hong Kong
April 2/3 - Adelaide, Australia
May 21/22 - London, England
May 28/29 - Edinburgh, Scotland


Plenty of Time for the Men in Gold to sort out selections, tactics, and injuries.

 

[RonnieP]

Wow, very average turn out this weekend. Massive step back from the team of last year. John Grant is the only game breaker in the squad. Hamish Angus tried hard but thats about it. Could not believe how poor the defense was, especially from Ed Jenkins. It seems like all the members of last years squad who were going to make S15 did and we're left with chopped liver. Can't see any of those guys knocking on the door of super rugby with the exception of possibly John Grant. We need to discover some new talent coming through.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Wow, very average turn out this weekend. Massive step back from the team of last year. John Grant is the only game breaker in the squad. Hamish Angus tried hard but thats about it. Could not believe how poor the defense was, especially from Ed Jenkins. It seems like all the members of last years squad who were going to make S15 did and we're left with chopped liver. Can't see any of those guys knocking on the door of super rugby with the exception of possibly John Grant. We need to discover some new talent coming through.

Ronnie, your latest effort shows the same generosity of spirit evident in your only two previous posts, namely:

"How did Henry Speight have a good game? His defence was terrible, his positioning was poor - almost cost them a try when he couldn't catch the missed penalty goal or ground it, gave away stupid..."

"I would be very interested to see how many of the ppl who have been commenting on Speight have actually seen him play. I thought he looked very average in the ITM games I saw this year."

Welcome aboard, Ronnie.

 

[DPK]

...I'm not sure if Bruce's welcome was wholehearted, but I do welcome aboard Ronnie. We need some curmudgeons around to balance it out.

 

[RonnieP]

Thanks for the welcome Bruce.

 

[Lee Grant]

Yeah - welcome aboard RP. Don't mind Bruce: he's just a cranky old bastard - and I mean old.

He's so old he went into an antique store once and they sold him.

 

[Rothschild]

Yeah welcome Ronnie.
Sometines it's good to have someone who is prepared to speak their mind rather than speak a line that isn't portraying the actual picture. Sometimes being nice in critisism just doesn't paint the whole picture.
BTW - I heard Speight wasn't that spectacular in last Thursday's intrateam trials as well.

 

[Moses]

I caught the Poms v Blacks, what a game. Some similarities to the Comm games final with nz having the legs and bench to overcome a first half deficit in the 14 minute final.

That saffapom made a great try when he came on, really carved up the defense. The english look like a tequilla sunrise in that gear.

 

[Bruce Ross]

My issue with Ronnie's post centres around his "chopped liver" comment. His points about how the team played may be justified but if so, the coaches and selectors are the more legitimate targets. There has been criticism on this forum of the fact that the squad is unbalanced with only one forward included. But Ronnie has already concluded that none of the players other than Grant has any real future in the game:

"It seems like all the members of last years squad who were going to make S15 did and we're left with chopped liver. Can't see any of those guys knocking on the door of super rugby with the exception of possibly John Grant."

Among the "chopped liver" is Phipps, who has not only "knocked on the door of super rugby" but been admitted as well as going on the Spring Tour. Like Grant he didn't play in this tournament, meaning that a very young, inexperienced and depleted side had to compete in this tournament.

Phipps along with many of the squad has only played a handful of first grade games at club level.